Sons of Anarchy: “Huang Wu”Review

After last week’s intense episode, “Huang Wu” slowed things down a little, moving SAMCRO's attempt to exit the gun business forward marginally and taking time to focus on the fallout from Jax learning about Tara’s betrayal.

If people were hoping that Jax would unleash hell on Tara after finding out that she had faked her pregnancy and miscarriage, they were destined to be disappointed. I wasn’t though. After years of building the relationship between Jax and Tara, I would have been more frustrated if he had dealt with Tara the way he would have treated anyone else, like Wendy for example. Tara has always been different for Jax and it was significant that he decided to get some distance instead of reacting violently. That he took the time to try to figure things out also had the benefit of giving Charlie Hunnam another chance to shine in the acting department; Jax telling with the club everything that was happening and apologizing to his mother and Nero was a heartbreaking scene. Katey Sagal was also great; it’s always nice when she gets a chance to show Gemma’s tender side.

As for Maggie Siff, she was excellent with Tara’s downward spiral as Tara was increasingly irrational and continued to burn her bridges. If there was tension at the end of last week’s episode when we saw her waiting for Jax with a baby in her lap and a gun on her knee, it was ratcheted up even further this week. It would be tough to say what was more disturbing about Tara this week – was it her decision to run over Juice’s bike? Or her meltdown after catching Jax with Colette when she voiced the sad question, “What happened to me?” The most ominous moment was the desolation on her face when Patterson let her know the deal for witness protection was no longer on the table and Tara walked out of the office with the realization that no one could help her.

Side note: Juice’s sarcastic “I always come to a hospital when someone runs me over” comment to Tara was one of my favorite moments of the episode. It was sad that even knowing how close she came to hurting Juice didn’t seem to faze her.

Jimmy Smits as Nero Padilla and Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller.

Getting back to SAMCRO’s business and their attempts to get out of guns, things were as messy as ever. Gaalan’s demands and loose cannon behavior threatened to upend Jax’s plans, but also served to solidify the reasons the club needs to get out of the gun business. It also kept Gaalan in the forefront of our minds as the big villain of the back-end of the season, as if we needed any reminders there. The trouble stirred up by Gaalan led to the big action sequence in the episode as the Chinese gun contacts chased SAMCRO down for a chat, using the very convincing method of shooting at them until everyone pulled over. The only downside was that there wasn’t much real tension in that scene, the Chinese gunmen seemed to be approximately as good at hitting their targets as Star Wars storm troopers. Not that I wanted anyone from the club to get shot, of course. The biggest threat ended up being that they took Happy, although even that was lessened a bit in the end by showing how much fun he was having during his imprisonment.

A bigger threat to Jax’s plans may end up being the fact that Clay’s trial was moved up, which in turn moved up the plans to break him out of prison. It was one thing when the Irish were breaking Clay out, but since Jax’s people have to participate now, things seemed to be turning into a much more worrisome direction. Clay’s meeting with Gemma, on the other hand, was very sweet. He continued trying to make up for past misdeeds by leaving her financial his assets, essentially giving her the benefit of a divorce without the hassle.

Meanwhile, Nero and Unser got stuck with the unenviable task of dealing with Wendy, although since Jimmy Smits and Dayton Callie seemed to have a blast working together, it turned out to be a highlight of the episode. Smits had the usual charm to spare and Callie brought his most grumpy gruffness. For some reason Unser telling Nero where to kick the door and Nero’s irritated response was hilarious to me, as was Unser’s attempt at an olive branch by saying he was glad Nero was there which was followed by Nero telling Unser it was embarrassing to see him suck up.

A few episodes ago, I would have thought Gemma’s care for Wendy was unusual, but after the development of their relationship this season, it wasn’t too surprising that Gemma decided to take Wendy in. It was nice to see Wendy get some help from the Teller/Morrow family for a change.

I also really liked the scene near the end of the episode of Jax working on the old bike, a symbol of what the club once was, while the baby monitor sat nearby. Jax was working hard to restore both the club and his family.

The Verdict

Even if the episode as a whole wasn’t quite as gripping as the previous week, Sons of Anarchy kept the tension up as Tara continued to unravel and the club’s attempts to leave the gun business got messier.

Diana Steenbergen is a writer at IGN TV. When she’s not watching TV, she’s – hahaha, just kidding. You can follow her at IGN at dsteenbergen.

Great

Sons of Anarchy kept tensions high as SAMCRO's attemps to leave the gun biz got messier and Tara continued to unravel.